


Gravity

by StellarLily



Category: Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Action & Romance, Action/Adventure, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-16
Updated: 2016-07-16
Packaged: 2018-07-24 09:25:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7502991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StellarLily/pseuds/StellarLily
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rose was dying to be normal. When she is thrown into the world of Tony Stark and the Avengers she is forced to give up what she'd had as a life to fight for her father. Rose becomes less normal everyday: She is changing, and there are a precious few who can help her understand what is happening to her mind and the darker powers that are taking hold of her world. (CACW) OCxPP</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Turning Tides

The door was opening. Rose's heart beat faster. The door had never been open before. A shiver ran down her spine, an iced blade carving a jagged line down her back.

She reached a tentative hand out. It was so close. . . If only she was a little faster, and the fog wasn't becoming thicker, she'd make it. With a sudden burst of energy, Rose threw herself at the widening entrance.

The heavy door swung open, a gaping mouth of blackness.

Rose stepped in. He heart was beating a mile a minute and her body felt like ice. She peered forward, her eyes staring against the black.

Suddenly something lunged at her from the shadows.

Rose let out a scream as she fell.

 

* * *

 

Reality. It had become a funny thing lately. When one couldn't tell the difference between it and dreams, things became quite complicated.

Rose remembered what Tony had said to her when she brought this up; reality was something we created ourselves and in a world with superheroes, reality was becoming ever closer to what was once thought to be the stuff of dreams.

Rose sat against her bedroom wall, her arms wrapped around her legs and her chin resting on her knees.

Why couldn't she be normal? She would have given the world just to walk the streets of New York as a normal kid. Eat ice cream. Make friends. Even go to school. She'd retake Calculus at this point if that was what it took.

Rose wished she could talk to Pepper. She was the mother she never, or might have, had. But Pepper was gone. Rose was still not sure what happened between her and Tony. It seemed like they had had a falling out. But it had been a quiet one. No yelling. No fighting. One morning Rose went to get breakfast and Pepper was already sitting at the table, her bags packed and her plane ticket sitting next to her purse.

They needed a break she had said. Pepper had walked out, all business and forced smiles. Rose didn't even say goodbye.

Rose laughed at herself. Why was she such a drama queen? Hell, she needed someone to give her a good, hard slap in the face. Wake her up from her musings about reality and get her to move forward. She would've asked Natasha to do it, but that probably would leave her hospitalized for a week.

Here she was, reminiscing about Pepper and feeling sorry for her oh-so scary nightmares with an even scarier door when Tony was dealing with. . . well, everything.

Not for the first time in her short seventeen years, Rose wished she actually had something useful to do. Or contribute. She stared out the window, watching the sun slowly make its ascent into the sky.

Nope. Rose had the sass of Tony Stark and the agility and coordination of a freshly run over squirrel. So nothing in the superhero department. Instead of helping earth's mightiest heroes and kicking some serious butt, she was getting really good at solitaire and making banana smoothies.

Okay, fine. Her smoothies still sucked and her solitaire game was not strong. Boo.

It wasn't her fault she had a brain. And a knack for guessing Tony's passcode to the lab. And when she wasn't feeling lucky, a handy hammer or assorted explosive to break that pathetic excuse for glass next to the door.

She had tried every argument to work with Tony. She had this great idea that what if. . .(that one never worked), and the brilliant, "Tony I can't keep playing Chem Lab in my bedroom forever. . ."

Nothing convinced him. You'd think that graduating from college at sixteen would warrant you the right to make things blow up and physically use a fully functioning lab in the basement.

Instead Rose was on housewife duty. Clean the floor, dust the countertops, and "if you even _think_ about using one of my cars you've got another thing coming, Rose."

Oh yeah. And she was Tony Stark's daughter. That biggie.

 

* * *

 

Rose wasn't really sure if Tony counted as her dad, per se. He was more like that glorified, billionaire uncle with too much time and far too many cool connections.

Her mom had dumped her unceremoniously at an orphanage as soon as she was born. "See ya, kid! Have a great life!" was the approximate narrative of a mother who didn't want a child and couldn't be bothered to tell her father. Somehow Tony had found out that her mother had had a daughter. With him. And she had just neglected to say squat. Thanks, Mom. Rose didn't care much for the mother she would never have. She had Tony. She had had Pepper. Now she had Natasha.

Tony being the loving and caring person he was, picked her up and sent her off to boarding school as soon as she had defied gravity and learned to walk on two legs. Those had been some fun years. Rose didn't think he did this because he didn't want her; she believed it was because he just wasn't ready for a child at the time. He kept in contact with her, calling once a month and sending the occasional email. She was happy he hadn't left her to grow up without parents; if she knew anything, it was that loneliness was something you couldn't erase from childhood.

Looking back, Rose owed it all to Tony. She may not call him Dad, but he had essentially saved her. He had taken her back in mid-way through High School, gave her a room in Stark Towers, and told her not to blow anything up and graduate asap. She succeeded at the second.

Life was pretty normal for a while. Rose grew close with Pepper and learned to love the sound of JARVIS's voice and his ability to run both equations and Tony's household. She became comfortable with her self-driven education and isolation from other people. She had been thirteen at the time.

Then the Avengers happened. Followed shortly after by Killian and the whole Ultron fiasco. Rose became incredibly distant from Tony, as he didn't want anyone but Pepper to know about her to ensure her safety. When it became impossible to keep her hidden any longer, Tony sent Rose away to Oxford. She completed her Ph.D. in medical sciences and engineering. She graduated with top marks, both loathed and adored at sixteen under the false name, Rosa Finch.

In England, it turned into a waiting game. A really long one. She couldn't leave the country for fear of being discovered as a Stark, and couldn't accept any serious jobs without being found by SHIELD. SHIELD did eventually find her, but Tony forbade them from hiring or immersing her into the mess of the world. The year dragged on, and she spent her seventeenth birthday with a few people she could barely call friends and a short video session with Pepper and Tony.

Rose's social life was pretty sub-standard. When everyone around her was ten or more years older she found her options limited. She was still very much a teenager; she wanted to go out and have fun like the rest of the people her age. She dated a few guys on and off, but found them too dull and was annoyed by the fact that they were intimidated by her intelligence. She wasn't a player like Tony. The thought of engaging in such activities so young made her, quite frankly, terrified. She became isolated and irksome. She was traditionally an extreme extrovert; her sarcasm and sass had gotten her in trouble more than once.

When Tony called and said Rose could come home, she began to realize maybe she could finally think of Tony as a semblance of a father. All it took was that one glorious word: Home.

Something that had seemed nonexistent for such a long time. When Rose heard him say that word she was already packing.

She was on a flight to New York the next day. Rose stopped at the Stark Tower to pick up her things she had left before moving to the UK three years prior. She hadn't grown much, so most of her clothes still fit her. Rose wished she would be staying there; although she would never admit it out loud, the prospect of staying with the Avengers terrified her. She would miss the comforting presence of JARVIS, who was somehow Vision now, and the soaring building with its sweeping views.

 

* * *

 

After a short drive out of the city, Rose ended up at the New Avengers Facility with a small room and orders from Tony not to make direct eye contact with anyone and to stay put. Nice.

So Rose ended up attempting to break into the lab and training room that same day, consequently meeting everyone after a beautiful introduction by Tony via firm talking to and "herby banning you from this establishment" speech. Had he honestly expected her to stay put after years of sitting around?

All of them, being Natasha, Clint, Steve, and Sam, seemed perfectly fine with Rose upon Tony introducing her to the Avengers: "Fellow heroes, spawn. Spawn, heroes."

"Thanks, Tony." Rose said, noting the chuckle from Sam and the friendly faces from the others. "And since when have I been referred to as spawn?"

"Since now. Thanks to you I have to fix this perfectly good door. Where did you get a hammer anyways?" Tony inquired, his face the perfect mix of confused at having to play 'Dad' and angry.

Rose shrugged. Someone had left it lying around. Not that she was going to say that.

"Wait, this is your daughter, Tony?" Natasha had asked. "Why have we never heard about her, let alone met her?"

Good point, thought Rose.

"Because I've got crazy protective fatherly instincts and decided studying abroad would be great for her," Tony sighed.  
"But now, with the whole world blowing up and cities falling from the sky I thought it would be safer to bring her here." Tony glanced sideways at Rose and then at the shattered glass. "Apparently it wasn't."

Clint chose this opportune moment of sideways glaring to ask, "Is she like you?" He said the question jokingly, clearly not meaning offense.

Oh, whoop. The big question. Would there now be two Tonys instead of one?

Tony glanced at Rose for a second, considering how to drop the the bomb of his, albeit genius, uninteresting child. Rose was sure that was how he perceived her. All brains and no party.

He chose a surprisingly eloquent answer, one that Rose would find herself analyzing later for sarcasm.

"Rosalyn Elizabeth Stark is my daughter by blood and her brain, dare I say it, is bigger than mine at times. She has good aim with a gun, terrible aim with a punch, and enjoys knitting in her spare time."

It was a good shpeal except for the last part. Rose hated knitting. Her roommate had had an obsession with it and by the end of the year Rose had been one more "click click" of the knitting needles away from stabbing her own eyes out. She wondered how Tony knew about that. Unless the comment was random, which she doubted it was.

Still, the brain comment felt good. Rose shook all their hands, beginning to feel more welcome here than anywhere she had ever been before.

 

* * *

 

Rose closed her eyes and smiled remembering that day. It had been so simple. She got along great with Natasha and was one high five away from calling Clint her older brother. Wanda was aloof, Vision made her heart stop every other day with his habit of traveling through walls, and Steve was Mr. America and courteous as hell. Sam was hilarious and Rhodey had that leader spark. They all were amazing, and Rose felt dwarfed in their shadows and responsibility to protect the world.

It was heartbreaking to see them fall apart. Steve with Bucky and the government's need to control the Avengers became Tony's world.

He was fighting his own friend. It was taking its toll. After Wanda broke out with Clint, who Rose hadn't seen in three months, things went rapidly downhill. He was working tirelessly with the government, looking for a way out and a way to make everything right. He was unstable now; Pepper had left and friend was fighting friend.

Rose stopped trying to get into the lab to mess around. She tried to be helpful. Even if it meant playing maid and staying out of everyone's way.

She was dying for something to do. Although several things were worrying her. She had been having the reoccurring door dream. Waking up in a cold sweat had been bad enough, but this morning she had woken up screaming. She couldn't remember what she saw. No one came running in, confirming either that the walls were soundproof or no one was there to come check on her. She suspected the later was true.

The second was her headache. It had lasted for a week now, and she had tried everything to get rid of it. She had even purposely stubbed her toe to make the pain in her head seem less horrible. That had not been a wise move, as now both her head and toe hurt.

Rose had been keeping to herself and disturbing the Avenger scramble as little as possible. She couldn't bother anyone with her stupid problems. They were insignificant compared to the insanity going on with Cap and Tony. She had asked Tony if he needed any help with designing. She had been rejected.

So Rose was a bored and frustrated teenager, sitting in her room, counting sheep. Why couldn't she be normal? Have boy problems or something? Be worried about exams?

But that wasn't her. She knew it. She was a Stark and if a Stark does anything, it sure as hell isn't normal.

She was stuck indoors; Tony was going to insane lengths to keep SHIELD away from her and her genius quiet. Rose instead designed planes in her room, worked on material design and casual engineering, allowing her mind to wander and expand. She occasionally worked out on the side, still praying she would one day be of use and maybe get to fight.

Rose stood up, her back hurting from playing philosoph and sitting against a wall for an hour. She stretched and yawned, preparing for a day of slow designing and research.

She glanced out the window, the rising sun blinding her and illuminating her emerald eyes.

Rose felt like something was about to change, and she wasn't sure if she was ready for it.

 

* * *

 

 

  
**Notes:**

Hello! I'm trying out something quite new here when it comes to fanfiction. I've never done an OC before but I figured I'd give it a shot. Please R/R and tell me what you think about this intro and the character I'm laying out. Any comments are welcome!

I am really excited about Rose and her character's potential - I feel like I can make her connect with other characters and create someone worth rooting for. I know this intro might have been tedious, but please stick with me and be ready for more lighthearted and fun chapters to come!

\- Stella


	2. Spark

Rose was trying really hard not to shoot herself in the foot.

When Tony had said she had good aim with a gun he wasn't lying. Natasha was having her on a mobile shooting obstacle course and it was becoming blindingly apparent both her body and mind were not into it.

Rose had done cross country in High School because it was the only sport she trusted herself not to face plant in. So when her nonexistent coordination and perfect aim was paired with running, jumping, and dodging. . . It could be said she missed spectacularly.

"You are at the absolute height of your physical capabilities at this age, Rosalyn!" Natasha called across the room.

Rose grunted in response, both too tired and too annoyed from being called by her full first name to respond.

She vaulted over a metal beam placed lengthways across the ground and fired at the moving target on the left wall. She missed. Again.

"Stop!" called Natasha. She jumped down from the ledge she was perched on and began walking towards Rose, who was breathing heavily.

"I have to say, Rosalyn, your aim is actually not bad. However, when you are concentrating on your feet so much your shots are haphazard and spontaneous. I'm afraid you are not ready for spontaneity yet," Natasha quipped.

Rose was still breathing heavy. "Thanks," she mumbled out and began to shake out her sore arm.

"Rose. Look at me," Natasha said. "You are not as uncoordinated as you think you are. It will just take time and practice. You said you wanted to learn how to fight, yes?"

Rose gave a slow nod.

"You will never learn unless you start believing you actually have the physical capability to do this. I wouldn't train you if I thought you were a lost cause. Now we are going to get back to work. And you're going to fight like it's your last lesson. If you train that way you will only see improvement."

Rose looked up at Natasha. "I want to learn. I really do. Feeling weak is something I've always hated. But I just feel stupid jumping over stuff and am helpless at hand to hand combat. Is there anything on the side I can do? Push ups or something?"

Natasha gave a small smile. "This kind of thing just takes time. You are already reasonably fit. If you want to work out more on the side it wouldn't hurt. As for actual hand to hand, it would help if you had someone a little more your size and speed."

"Are you calling me short?" Rose glared.

"Of course not, hon. You're a solid five feet of pure ferocity." Natasha smiled.

That earned a frown from Rose and a light pat on the head from Natasha that she ducked to avoid.

"See, you can be fast if you try!" Natasha laughed.

"Only if involves me avoiding my midget physique," Rose said.

"Awe come on. You're not a midget, Rose. Just vertically challenged, is all."  
Natasha suddenly sidestepped at a speed that didn't seem humanly possible to avoid the punch Rose had sent her way.

This, for some reason, made Natasha laugh. "Ok, Rose. We'll fight and practice hand to hand. Apparently all it takes to improve your aim is to insult your height. Come on!"

Reluctantly, Rose followed her to the sparing ring, all the while glaring holes into Natasha's back.

Her head was still killing her, but she neglected to say anything to Natasha, both not wanting to seem weak and have her deem Rose unwell and, therefore, unable to train.

 

* * *

 

Natasha had made Rose her personal project. It had been two weeks since the bombing in Vienna and three days since Barton had taken Wanda. The disappearance of Rodgers and Wilson seemed to throw Natasha into a frenzy. Wanda's leaving and Barton's choosing of Cap's side was enough to drive her insane.

Rose wasn't really sure what she believed at the moment. Everything was just too confusing. But Natasha seemed determined to teach Rose even if it was grueling and required infinite patience.

Tony had been holed up in the lab for a week now. When Rose commented on this he said he was looking for something. Rose suspected he was looking for someone. The team seemed to be getting smaller every day, which did not bode well if there was to be a confrontation anytime soon.

Rose was actually panicking because Natasha had suggested she fight. She insisted that with some personal training she could really get into assassin-shape, a term she wisely didn't say in front of Tony.

Tony was all for Rose learning self defense, but he said under no condition would she actually be fighting. Rose didn't push it; she was extremely lucky that he had allowed Nat to teach her anything.

Natasha had started her with the basics of shooting and related exercises. Rose was confident with a gun: Tony had all but insisted she learn when she had come to live with him again. JARVIS, before he became Vision, had led her through a basic training program that left her with a deadly shot. Rose wondered if he remembered that. Probably.

Natasha quickly found her problem was not in anyway physical exertion. It was all agility. Rose would have gotten a tattoo on her face or something equally as awful to change that. She was slow to react an move; Natasha had come up with the wonderful analogy that she was more like an old, overweight man than a young, spiritedly teen. Rose took too long to calculate her moves. It was imperative that she move faster and her reflexes became much quicker.

Natasha's method of improving Rose's coordination was to throw literally everything within reach at any given moment at her.

The eightieth time Rose was hit with a tennis ball, hard, mind you, she began to react faster and her reflexes improved. Rose had now been training nonstop for almost two weeks; she hoped she would continue to achieve little victories.

Natasha continued Rose's training as if her life depended on it.

 

* * *

 

Rose sidestepped out of the way, just in time to avoid a rather vicious kick from Natasha. She threw her whole body into an uppercut, her other arm blocking an oncoming punch from Natasha.

Natasha blocked her easily, and followed her previous attack with an elbow to Rose's stomach. Ouch. Rose was solely on the defensive and her breathing was coming in short gasps.

Rose kicked out at Natasha's knee, her other leg firmly planted between them. Immediately after Rose followed with a left punch, only to find herself seemingly flying through the air and then in an extremely complex hold with her face pressed against the ground and Natasha's knee digging painfully into her back.

"How the hell do you do that, Nat?" Rose gasped into the ground. Her hair was sticking to her face and the smell of sweat was clinging to her as Natasha had her head still on the mat.

"A whole lot of practice and ability to see obvious openings." Rose knew Natasha was smirking. She just knew it.

"Is there, I dunno, a way for me to get out of this?" Rose said not without a hint of annoyance. Her wrist and neck were killing her.

"Yes," Natasha said.

Oh, real helpful, thought Rose.

Rose analyzed her predicament. Her legs were free for the most part, but her arms were crossed firmly behind her neck and held in a death grip by Natasha. Her head was pressed into the ground by Natasha's right knee, and her back was squished into the mat by her left.

Rose tried to move her back up slightly only to have Natasha's knee dig deeper into her spine. Rose let out a frustrated huff.

"Nat, I can't even move," Rose said.

"You sure as hell can, Rosalyn. Just think about it. And also as a side note: You will have to be a lot faster in a real fight when you find yourself in a situation like this. The faster you act the less time an enemy with have to strengthen their hold on you," Natasha explained.

"Ok, ok. But what if..." Rose started.

Suddenly it felt like her entire body was hit with an electric shock. At first Rose thought Natasha had tasered her.

Rose threw her hips upward and flew onto her knees, her teeth jarring at the sudden impact and speed at which she did this. This move startled Natasha, causing her to loosen her grip on her arms and lessen the pressure of her knees on Rose's body. Rose tore her hands out of Natasha's grasp and rolled to the side, away from her. Rose kicked out and hit Natasha in the shin.

Rose scrambled to her feet, her mind buzzing with newfound energy. Natasha looked as if she had been shot.

She looked at Rose for some time, taking in her poised stance and flushed cheeks.

A smile crept onto Natasha's face. "I am impressed, Rose. Very impressed. That was brilliant. "

Rose didn't quite let herself relax, but allowed a smile and a small laugh to escape her lips.  
"I don't know what came over me," she commented.

"The adrenaline must have kicked in," Natasha shrugged. "Wonderful escape. We can start moving onto harder holds soon."

Natasha took in Rose's bruised and flushed body. Her grey t-shirt was soaked with sweat and she was beginning to look shaky on her legs.

"Tomorrow," Natasha said. "You are dead on your feet right now. That escape might have been luck, but we are going to work to make sure it wasn't. Get some rest and meet me here in the morning."

 

* * *

 

Natasha couldn't hide the smile from her face. Rose's escape had been excellent for a beginner. If her aim could improve so could her fighting. She was sure of it.

She wondered, though, how light Rose had suddenly seemed at the moment of her escape.

 

* * *

 

Rose felt happy. She had escaped the clutches of the infamous Black Window and hadn't been beaten to pulp right after. Natasha had actually smiled at her.

Rose rushed over to a bench in the corner of the training room to grab her water and bag. The electricity still seemed to be running through her. Making her giddy and jumpy. She was still as tired as all get-out, but the funny energy was persisting.

Rose hurried up the stairs and to her room, thinking that a cold shower was definitely in order. Oh, who was she kidding. She never ended up actually taking a cold shower. She stripped off her sweaty clothes and unceremoniously tossed them on the ground. Rose had never been a neat freak.

The water felt amazing on her sore muscles and the steam helped clear her head. What had happened down there? Rose had suddenly found herself out of Natasha's grip and she had felt weightless as she had sprung from the mat.

Rose was so caught up in her small victory that even twenty minutes later, she hadn't realized something was missing.

As she lay down in bed, with a smile still plastered on her face, a sense of unease suddenly overcame her.

Then it hit her.

Her headache was gone and that funny electricity had replaced it.

 

* * *

 

 

 

**Notes:**

Thank you again for reading! Remember, writers get paid in reviews so don't hesitate to drop one!

You'll notice I expanded the time frame of CW a little bit - I needed time to develop Rose's character. If there are any serious holes in the plot line, please tell me. I want this to be accurate. I forgot to mention in my last a/n (I'll probably add it in later) that CACW happens ONE YEAR after Age of Ultron. This gives a lot of wiggle room for me to add in flashbacks and such.

FYI: I plan to have Rose meet Peter (aka Spiderman soon - I know the summary says OCxPeterParker!)<br />  
I really want to let you get to know Rose and what is happening first.

Again, thank you for reading and have a great day!

\- Stella

 


End file.
